The Orphan and the Mouse by Martha Freeman

Yes! Another mouse book. This one, The Orphan and the Mouse by Martha Freeman, came highly recommended by Sherry, and in fact, she recommended it to me in the comments of her year-end post. I requested it from the library and plunged in with my girls (and the DLM, though he usually goes to sleep before we finish reading for the night). What a delight! This book is definitely not a dumbed-down kids’ book; while it’s not a hard book, it has its fair share of vocabulary-expanders. (As an example, may I offer the word comestible? It’s not a word I use on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, and yet it’s one the mice in this story do use every time they talk about food.)

Written from alternating viewpoints, this is the story of a few of the residents of Cherry Street Children’s Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Caro, the main character, is a little girl orphaned by a house fire which claimed the life of her mother. Caro is a sensible and kind-hearted child, and she gains some inkling of an idea that there’s more to Cherry Street than meets the orphans’ eyes when she rescues Mary Mouse from the home’s cat. The mice civilization at Cherry Street is quite complex, and while they’re busy spying on the humans, keeping an eye out for the “predator,” “auditing” the orphans’ school lessons, and stealing artwork (postage stamps from the director’s desk), other even more dastardly things are afoot among the human population of Cherry Street. The director of the home is using the home as a cover for her involvement in lucrative underworld dealings; of course, it’s up to Caro and her mouse friend to stop her.

The characters in this book are as sophisticated as Stuart Little, and in fact, Stuart Little is the role model for the mice of Cherry Street. They’re quite humane little creatures, even if they don’t exactly understand the ways of humans themselves. My extra-sensitive girl found much to be troubled by in this story: kidnapping, orphans, children who are not cared for, etc. However, we persevered, and I’m glad we did. Although the plot of the story isn’t terribly complex, some of the issues presented in this post-World War II story are complex. However, it has a very satisfying ending that ties up all loose ends–both those mysterious and those emotional. With lots of excitement and extremely short chapters, this makes an ideal read-aloud. Highly Recommended. (Holiday House, 2014)

Other mouse stories reviewed at Hope Is the Word: